Supposed historical emblems of the
Kazan Khanate

«Flag of the Tartarian King»

This one shown is a true heraldic dragon: four feet, two wings [unlike
its modern representation in the Kazan city flag
and arms].Albert Kirsch, 14 Feb 2005

Does the original image (here
from [ala07]) show a swallowtail flag,
or a rectangular one?…António Martins, 22 Oct 2002

«Another Tartarian flag»

image by António Martins, 22 Oct 2002

Yellow with black and white owl.António Martins, 14 Feb 2005

Overview

Those flags are from Allard’s Nieuwe Hollandse Scheepsbouw,
Amsterdam 1694 [ala94], and reprinted
several times. (See Wilson’s Flags at Sea, 1986,
[wil86] p. 114.) These images are
probably fantasies of flags used in Tartary, as the empire of the Great
Khan was called then. They were used on innumerable flagcharts until the
19th century.Jarig Bakker, 24 Feb 2001

Nobody knows which flag this is. «Tartarian caesar» may be Kazan
khan, khan of Crimea or khan of Siberia (native people of Siberia was named
tartar too). I think most probably version is Crimea khanate, because
it was state with navy (and with naval ensigns, of course). Crimea khanate
existed in XVII (in times of Alardus). Kazan khanate was destroyed by Ivan
the Terrible in XVI c.Victor Lomantsov, 23 Oct 2002

So it’s a “tartarian king”, but not necessarily the
Kazan Khan. I see. That doesn’t stop however, the Tatar Government to
trace a geneologic line from the first Allard flag to the tsarist and current
Kazan arms, which show indeed a wyvern. The
Speransov’s book [spe74] has also the
same abusive conclusion.António Martins, 24 Oct 2002

The first depictions of the civic emblems occur on a
seal of Ivan the Terrible, and, with insignificant
alterations in details, on other monuments of the
sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth
centuries. A decree of 1766 about this emblem says,
«The seal of Kazan bears on it a basilisk, wings
gold, end of tail gold.» This depiction, published
in the Titulary, fully conforms to the law.

But the Kazan coat of arms possesses an earlier origin.
Legend speaks thus of the foundation of the city. Kazan
was built on a place where there was a multitude of snakes.
A Tatar sorcerer lit bonfires and spoke magic words. The
snakes perished, but the snake-king Zilant escaped to a
neighboring mountain, called Dzhilantai (Snake
Mountain). On the site thus liberated people built a city.
However, they were unable to live in peace, as the
snake-king who had settled nearby brought misery on them.
Fortunately, in the city there appeared a mighty magician,
Hakim, who was able, by mighty conjurations, to kill the
snake-king. In memory of this occurrence a representation
of Zilant is still a civic emblem among the Tatars.

With the creation in the eighteenth century of the
Kazan coat of arms, preserving on the shield an old
depiction of a snake, it received a new description:
«A black snake, wearing the golden crown of Kazan,
wings red, field white.» But in other documents this
snake began to be called a dragon. In the nineteenth
century in the newly described coat of arms of the former
Kazan province the ancient snake-king Zilant (later called
a basilisk) is also called a dragon.

In spite of the fact that in the old civic emblem, and
in the earliest coat of arms of Kazan and of the province
of the same name, we undoubtedly have depictions of one
and the same, though variously named, winged snake, not
all sorts of such fantastic monsters found in Russian
symbolism and heraldry have the same significance. For
example, the ominous snake-dragon, personifying the evil
enemies of the Russian nation, in the
old emblem of Moscow possesses
a different origin and symbolism.

A different significance is given to the winged dragon
acribed to the Tatar khans. An interesting antique
description of this emblem of the khans was published in
the work of Carlus Allard (published
in 1705 [ala05] in Amsterdam,
translated into Russian in 1709
[ala07]): «Flag of the
king of Tartary, yellow with a black dragon (great serpent)
with basilisk tail, couchant, facing toward the fly.»
Attestation of the fact that a dragon, or winged snake,
appears as a sign or emblem of the Tatar khans, can also
be found among Russian authors, but without description
and colored illustration of the emblem.

This same Allard publishes in his work a description
of another former Tatar flag: «A different Tatar flag,
yellow with a black owl with yellow breast.»